


I'm Trying To Get Back To You

by lost_lunar_wolf



Series: Sp00ky Season [12]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Peter Parker, Deception, Depression, Disguise, Gen, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Missing Persons, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Natasha helps Peter, Parent Tony Stark, Peter Parker Angst, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker Whump, Presumed Dead, Protective Natasha Romanov, References to Depression, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Angst, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:20:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27223375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_lunar_wolf/pseuds/lost_lunar_wolf
Summary: “Whoa kid calm down, what’s going on.  Where are you?”“I can’t explain, I’m sorry, I love you.  I promise it will be okay.”  Was all Peter said before hanging up the phone.He quickly dialed another number ignoring the pain in his chest from the worry he knew he was going to cause Tony.  The person picked up right away.“I need your help.”ORPeter accidentally gets involved in something he shouldn't have and now needs Natasha's help to survive.  He goes off the grid as a last resort and he and Natasha work quickly to make things right, even if that means making things worse in the mean time.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Sp00ky Season [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950130
Comments: 10
Kudos: 114





	I'm Trying To Get Back To You

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome back to a Sp00ky Season prompt!! This is actually a sequel (The first part is just Tony's POV) to another fic in this series called [Come Back To Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26862190) which is part 5 of Sp00ky Season, but it also has its own series! 
> 
> Today's Prompt: Deception and Disguises. Does it really follow the prompt? Kind of.
> 
> Trigger Warnings: Depression, presumed dead.
> 
> If there are any others you'd like me to add please let me know and I will add them! 
> 
> This is super out of character so oops! Hope you all enjoy!

Peter was running. He was running fast. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been running, but he couldn’t stop. If he stopped, he would be killed and no matter how many gen z ‘I wanna kill myself’ jokes he made, he didn’t really want to die. Not right now at least. So he ran.

He kept running. 

Refusing to look back.

At some point he managed to get away, but he knew it wouldn’t stay that way for long. He quickly fished out his phone from his pocket dialing Tony’s number.

“Come on, come on, pick up.” Peter whispered and when Tony finally picked up he let out a breath of relief. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”

“Whoa kid calm down, what’s going on. Where are you?” 

“I can’t explain, I’m sorry, I love you. I promise it will be okay.” Was all Peter said before hanging up the phone.

He quickly dialed another number ignoring the pain in his chest from the worry he knew he was going to cause Tony. The person picked up right away. 

“I need your help.”

***

“Are you sure this is the only way?” Natasha asked, handing Peter a fake ID and wad of cash.

“They would find me if I stayed in the city.” Peter said stuffing the supplies Natasha gave him into a backpack. “It’s only until I can figure out how to take them down.”

“You know how Tony’s gonna react right?” 

“I know I know.” Peter answered and tried to keep the pain out of his voice when he did, because he did know. Tony was going to be so upset. Even that was an understatement in itself. Tony would self destruct, Tony would freak out, but Tony would do everything to search for Peter and as much as he hated to say it, that is what Peter needed. He needed them to think he was dead or missing, and if Tony believed that, no matter how much Peter hated to do it, if Tony believed that then so would they. And May, Peter didn’t even want to think about the pain this would cause May, but he wasn’t sure what else to do. “I hate it, but I think his genuine reaction will make them believe it too.”

Natasha opened her mouth then shut it and let out an annoyed huff. “Here.” She said and quickly scrawled out something on a piece of paper and handed it over to Peter along with a flip phone. “Meet me here, in a week, and update me on anything and everything you find. We need to get this done as fast as possible.”

“I know.” Peter said, tucking both the phone and slip of paper into his jacket pocket. “Please make sure he’ll be okay.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“Thank you Мама паук.”

“You’re lucky I love you enough for me to know this is the only way.” Natasha said with a flat tone. “Be careful Детеныш паука.”

“I will.”

Peter pulled his hood up and adjusted his backpack so it sat comfortably on his shoulders and walked away from Natasha with no more than a small wave. 

He knew the first thing he had to do was get out of New York, or the city at the very least. Tony would be searching the city and soon enough the rest of the avengers would join. Also the people he was trying to get away from would be searching the city as well. One of the many unfortunate things about this was the people after him were after Peter, not Spider-Man. 

The whole thing was only even indirectly involved with Spider-Man, and as far as Peter knew, they didn’t know he was Spider-Man. It really was an accident to even have gotten involved, honestly Peter was still a bit confused on how everything had happened. But bottomline, they wanted to kill Peter because he got involved. 

Right now Peter was in Upper Manhattan and the quickest way out of the state he knew of was to get across the George Washington Bridge that was about a 2 or 3 mile walk if he had to guess. Normally Peter would change into his suit and swing there, but he knew Tony would be looking for any Spider-Man sightings. Also he didn’t have his suit, which sucked, but it made it harder for him to be tracked. After Peter had called Natasha and they had a spot to meet, he shut off his phone and removed the battery to avoid being tracked. While Peter was unsure if the people after him could track his phone, he knew soon enough they would be able to, and he also knew that Tony would be able to track it. 

It hurt having to do this, he didn’t want to. He really didn’t want to. It would kill Tony, it would kill May, but while Peter wasn’t sure if this was truly the right thing to do, he wasn’t sure of another way. He would be killed, actually killed if these people found him, and in his head at least, going missing for a few weeks to get them off his trail and locked up, was better than actually dying. 

***

A few days later, Peter was working in a public library somewhere in New Jersey not too far from the Hudson River. For the few days he’s been gone, Peter has been careful to avoid any and all cameras as well as making his presence known in the fewest places possible. Unfortunately he did have to work in the library to get more information on the people after him. It was one of the few places his presences would be overlooked which was exactly what he needed. 

So far he had found close to nothing on the group after him. All he had up to this point was that the group was somehow involved with the Vulture and was selling alien tech. The fact that they were somehow affiliated with the Vulture made Peter wonder if they did know he was Spider-Man. It would make sense if they did, however it was equally likely that they were clueless to his other identity. Though him now knowing the group was affiliated with the vulture was a good start. That meant he could search through SHIELD’s files, both the ones that were released a few years back and the new database that he was currently hacking into, and would hopefully be able to find something.

Based on the update he had gotten from Natasha not long ago, the information Peter found had helped, and she was working on narrowing her search a bit more, though she was unsure how long until she actually found them. Also according to Natasha, Tony was overworking himself and had locked himself in the lab about 3 days ago and hasn’t left since and she was unable to get an update on May other than she was now staying at the tower. That hurt Peter a lot, it made him have to pause his work for a few minutes (it was almost half an hour) to keep himself from crying. He wanted to go home. Right now he wanted to go home and curl up in Tony’s arms on the couch while they watched  _ Star Wars _ together with May and eat a shit ton of junk food. Soon, he promised himself. But how long would it really be?

***

They almost found him. He wasn’t sure how, but they did.

Peter was in Jersey City nearing the small cafe he was supposed to meet Natasha at when he saw them. He was thankful at that moment that he had dyed his hair black a few days ago and he had the photostatic veil Natasha had given him, but he still turned down another street and quickly texted Natasha to meet him somewhere else. 

There were footsteps following him as he kept walking down the street he had turned on and it took all of his effort to not break out into a dead sprint. They were getting closer he could tell and his spider sense screamed at him to run, but he didn’t, he kept his almost leisurely pace. A hand landed on Peter’s shoulder and spun him around and it took all of him to not punch the man who grabbed him. 

“Can I help you mate?” Peter asked in a British accent he hoped wasn’t terrible and silently thanked that his voice didn’t waver as he spoke. 

Though his hair was a different color and he did have the veil, it could only do so much to change his appearance. There were still aspects of his face that stayed the same and he could only hope that the rest of the look was enough to throw the guy off. The man who grabbed him was someone he recognized. They weren’t too familiar, but Peter had seen their face one or two times. The whole group knowing what he looked like was very likely though, so whether he had only seen the man a few times, there was a good chance the man knew exactly what Peter looked like.

Before the man could speak Peter heard a familiar voice and a new set of footsteps coming towards them. 

“James!” The person yelled and Peter could finally see them coming into view and let out a silent breath of relief when he saw them. It was Natasha, however it didn’t look comepetley like Natasha. There were a few features like his own that were distinct even with the veil, but the voice and his spider sense not screaming at him confirmed it was Natasha. “I told you the restaurant was to the left not the right.” Natasha laughed as she finally got close enough to come between Peter and the man. “Who’s this?” She asked gesturing to the man who had grabbed Peter’s shoulder.

“Oh- I- sorry.” The man stuttered and let go of Peter’s shoulder. “I thought he was someone else.”

With that the man took one more questioning glance in Peter’s direction before walking off. When he was a good 20 or so paces away Peter felt himself relax into Natasha’s hold. 

“Thank you.” He whispered and slowly pulled himself away.

“Of course.” Natasha said and gently pushed him forward. “Let’s walk for a bit.”

And that’s what they did. They walked for a bit, making sure they walked long enough that they were sure nobody was following them before ducking inside a small restaurant in a completely different part of town. They sat in the very back corner, away from all the windows and away from all the people. After they ordered was when they started talking about what they really needed to talk about.

“I wasn’t going to ask, because I thought we had thrown them off enough.” Natasha began and Peter didn’t like where this was going. “There’s a body that turned up in an abandoned building fire not far outside of queens. They haven’t identified it yet, but my sources tell me that the basic description they can get from the remains fit yours.”

“And you want to know if you can falsify any test results so it matches my stuff.” Peter continued knowing there was no other reason Natasha would bring it up if that wasn’t what she was going to ask.

Slowly, Natasha nodded. “Like I said I wasn’t going to ask, but clearly they are somehow on your trail. I think that can buy us enough time to get the rest of the evidence.”

“And Mr. Stark and May?” Peter asked tentatively. He already knew the answer. They couldn’t tell Tony or May, and this would hurt them both even more. 

“A week, two tops.”

Peter was silent for a few moments. At this point he was sure yet at the same time so unsure of what to do. He wanted to go home. He wanted all of this to be over. But what if this was the only way for it truly to be over? Two weeks max, that’s what Natasha was saying, and when had Natasha ever been wrong? They were getting close though, and Natasha was right, if they were somehow on his trail then they wouldn't be able to finish this.

“Okay.” Peter answered eventually. “If it’s more than two weeks we have to find another way.” 

“Deal.”

***

Peter stood in the shadows of the cemetery hidden behind a set of trees. He was crying, and even from this distance he could see Tony and May were crying as well. 

He and Natasha were getting closer. They didn’t need much more evidence, but it shouldn’t be too long now. 

As Peter stood hidden, letting himself be soaked to the bone by the rain, he let himself silently break. And when he was finally able to pull himself back together, he broke again, because after everyone aside from Tony left, Tony broke down to the point he fell to his knees and sobbed. It took every bit of Peter to not go out and comfort him. Truly the only reason he didn’t was because he felt Natasha guiding him away from the cemetery. 

“We need to keep working.” She said, though the words barely registered in Peter’s head. “We’re close and the faster this gets done the faster you can go home.”

***

Peter and Natasha worked tirelessly to get the rest of the information they needed. They were so close yet so far from getting it. While they did have a lot of good evidence, none of it would stick where they needed it to, so it wasn’t enough. Not yet at least. Soon.

After working for a good majority of the day, Peter got up to take a small break.

“Don’t do this to yourself.” Natasha said not looking up from her work.

“How did-”

“Because I know you. You’re gonna go see him. It’s only going to hurt you more.”

“Just this once.” Peter protested because he had to go. He had to see Tony even if it was only from afar.

“You said the same thing yesterday.”

“Well I mean it today.”

Peter walked out of the abandoned building they were working in and walked the few blocks to the cemetery. Natasha was right though and he knew it. It would only hurt him if he kept going. But he had to go, he felt like needed to go.

When Peter got to the graveyard he saw Tony leaned up against the stone with tears falling down his face. 

“I love you.” He heard Tony whisper followed by a choked sob.

“I love you too.” Peter whispered, though he knew Tony wouldn’t hear.

***

It took less than a week for Peter and Natasha to get the rest of the evidence they needed to put away the group that was after Peter forever. 

“And how exactly are you going to tell him this?” Peter asked, because he was confused. 

He knew they couldn’t just waltz right into the police station with this information, nothing would ever get done. This was a job for the avengers and SHIELD to handle as alien tech was involved. Lots of alien tech as they had found. 

“I’ll tell Tony this was the group you were looking into.” Natasha said, pulling the rest of the files together that she was going to bring over to the tower. “Either way, based on our sources, there will be some sort of information on you in their base and when that’s found someone will tell Tony.” 

“Okay, just- just let me know once everything is taken care of and I’m in the clear.” 

“I will.” Natasha promised. “Be careful.”

“You too. Keep Tony safe for me.”

“I’ll try my best.”

***

Peter stayed hidden in the shadows at the cemetery once again. Even though he told Natasha about a week ago that he wouldn’t go again, he went everyday. He wasn’t even sure why he went. Well that was a lie, it made him feel closer to Tony even though right now he couldn’t actually go up to him. Soon. 

It would be soon, because he knew the avengers, more specifically Tony, had infiltrated the group and now SHIELD was on the site getting the rest of the data, so everyone within the group would be arrested. Anyone who was in the group and not at the base, they would have to deal with them separately, but getting rid of the bases around the city was enough for right now. At least enough of the group was taken care of for Peter to safely come back. 

And because the group was infiltrated was the reason Peter was at the cemetery because he knew this would be the first place Tony would go. Though he still couldn’t actually go up to Tony because Natasha hadn’t given him the green light yet, he had to at least see Tony for himself to make sure he was physically okay, and not injured.

Soon, though.

Soon enough he could go home.

***

A few hours after the base was infiltrated, Natasha told Peter to get out of the city and go back into New Jersey as there were still a few people from the base who were scattered around the city and she didn’t want to risk Peter getting caught in the crossfire. 

Which is why now, 3 days laters he was sitting in a cafe in Newark, because Natasha had finally given him the clear to turn his phone back on. She told him to let them come to him, mainly so he didn’t have to take the few hour trip back into New York by himself once again. 

Peter heard the thrusters of the Iron Man suit about a minute before the suit landed in front of the cafe. He saw Tony stumble out of the suit and run into the cafe with tears streaming down his face. 

Peter could tell the second Tony saw him, as Tony froze in place, emotions crossing his face so fast Peter couldn’t tell what any of them were except for the one that stuck. Relief. 

When he noticed Tony’s legs starting to tremble, Peter rushed forward catching Tony in his arms to hold him up. 

“I’m okay.” Peter whispered as he felt Tony wrap his arms around Peter holding on as if his life depended on it. 

Tony sobbed, and Peter noticed he was crying as well. Though he wasn’t back in New York yet, he felt more at home in Tony’s arms than he’s felt in weeks. He could feel the tension leave Tony’s body the longer they stayed there.

“I love you.” Tony said, and tightened his grip around Peter pulling him closer.

“I love you too.” Peter whispered.

It would be okay. That’s what Peter realized. He knew Tony wasn’t letting go anytime soon, but he didn’t want him to, he needed the hug right now. He needed to feel at home.

Soon, he told himself.

Soon, life would be okay again, and they could move on.

Soon, he would feel at home again.

**Author's Note:**

> Translations(I'm using google translate so someone please correct me if I'm wrong):  
> Мама паук (Russian) = Mamma Spider  
> Детеныш паука (Russian) = Spider Baby
> 
> Funny note about this story I started writing it the same time I wrote the first part however the title about 3 nights ago I woke up at 3am with this title in my head, wrote it with marker on my desk because I couldn't see (it came off!) then promptly fell back asleep. I was very confused when I saw a random title written on my desk in the morning... 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you all liked that! I had a good time writing it and actually managed to write it pretty fast once I did start writing! Come say hi to me on [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lost-lunar-wolf)!


End file.
